What is your state's/country's embarrassing stereotype?

[Aaron Sylvester]

New Zealand

Everyone outside NZ seems to think this country is basically nothing but sheep/cattle and urban areas don't exist. From that also came another stereotype of NZ'ers having sex with farm animals, which I wouldn't exactly call "embarrassing" as I would simply call "retarded". That's like me accusing Texans of having sex with cows just because they like their steak (and atleast that would make more sense, 95% of our farm/dairy products are exported).

I live just oustside the city in a residential area and my work is located in the main city itself (Auckland, NZ's largest city).

The last time I saw an actual sheep was over 8 years ago when I had gone to an animal convention where everything from koalas, cute ducklings to farm animals were available for little kids to learn about.

So yeah, @ people who think NZ is nothing but one giant farm, good luck actually running into any cattle for miles around the subarban areas and cities (i.e. where people actually live).

 

[ErwinGodfrey]

Snip.

Wow, two Alberta bros in the same thread, I`m feeling so warm and fuzzy inside. Don`t ever think I`ve heard us called that, but it doesn't seem fair, because most of the religious folk from Edmonton at least are polite enough to not vocalize a lot of the misgivings they have about other theologies and philosophies.

snip.

Yeah dull, but trust me my friend, you have no clue what a crime infested city really looks like. However, I do concede that our crime rate is certainly higher than the national average, but that doesn't really mean much when you compare it to cities like Detroit or Juarez.

 

[Reginald the Butler]

Not really, there are some but most people are normal people living in the cities. We do say "Howdy" Or at least some of us, but mostly were pretty generic, we don't even have a distinguishable accent even.

Really? What part are you from? I can't say I've ever heard anyone say Howdy, but I know a few people who dress in a cowboy-ish way, and most people from the smaller towns do end up working as farmers or miners/oil workers.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

I'm not sure about the details of specific stereotypes, but I'm from Iowa, so it's probably something about corn. That's all I can think of for now.

 

[bomber567]

Chicago. Wherever I go, especially outside of the US, people seem to think we're stuck in the 1920s, as in Al Capone-type gang violence. To be clear, Chicago is no longer the most dangerous city in the US, or even one of the top 50 most dangerous cities.

 

[Sir Boss]

Tasmaina, Australia, we are all totally and utterly inbred, we also all have two heads.

... that first one is ...well, I'd imagine it has some grounding in truth, as seemingly everyone in Tassie knows everyone else.

The second one, if you come across an Aussie, get a look at thier sholders, if they have scars, they're from Tassie

 

[Timedraven 117]

Not really, there are some but most people are normal people living in the cities. We do say "Howdy" Or at least some of us, but mostly were pretty generic, we don't even have a distinguishable accent even.

Really? What part are you from? I can't say I've ever heard anyone say Howdy, but I know a few people who dress in a cowboy-ish way, and most people from the smaller towns do end up working as farmers or miners/oil workers.

My Dad, he's from Virginia, but some others also say howdy. not many.

And of course smaller towns, but in the cities its different.

 

[theheroofaction]

Arizona. Since it's in the southwest it's got all the inbred hillbilly stereotypes.

Oh yeah, and apparently every white guy hates mexicans.

And a relatively famous gunfight has left a bit of a murderous stereotype.

 

[OblivionSoul]

snip.

Yeah dull, but trust me my friend, you have no clue what a crime infested city really looks like. However, I do concede that our crime rate is certainly higher than the national average, but that doesn't really mean much when you compare it to cities like Detroit or Juarez.

This is very true. And really, when you bring up those examples, I'll take the dullness.

 

[The Scotsman72]

Alberta is often considered the Texas of Canada, and that designation often brings with it the negative stereotypes associated with that US state.

I dunno about that dude I have never heard anything negative about Alberta. Generally when it comes up it is actually about how you guys apparently don't pay as much taxes as everyone else because of all the oil reserves which would be good for you guys.

OT: I am from Ontario and I honestly don't know much about our reputation to be honest. I know that Toronto is considered the most well known city in Canada so I guess you could say some would consider us the core of the country but I don't even know if that would be even all that true.

I've met people from parts of the States who thought that was accurate, I've also heard some people describe Edmonton as a dull, crime infested, shit hole ("Deadmonton"). Whilst I've heard some people describe Calgary as a big den of ultra-conservative whack jobs.

Don't know about the rest of Ontario, but I think I have heard some people say that Toronto is filled with elitist tossers.

I've lived in Edmonton all my life and sometimes it really is a dull, crime infested shithole. But yeah, not everyone in Alberta is uber conservative, but there is some truth, people did actually try to elect the Wildrose.

Would be nice if people didn't think we're all uber conservative...

Ugh, I've heard about Edmonton and it's crime. They need cops over there bad, and I'm hoping I don't get shipped off there after I'm done studying criminoligy and finish my RCMP training. Talked to a family friend who's an officer and he said they couldn't drag him there if they posted him there. Is it really that bad?

 

[Robert632]

I'm from Ontario here so...apparently I'm sterotyped as being the "center of attention", what with Ontario apparntly getting the lime light too much.

For region specific stereotypes though, we've got the self-centered, snobby Torontarin, the Mennonite farmers around Waterloo, Hamilton steel workers, and finally the northwestern cabin-in-the-woods-huntin'-and-trappin' loner. That's just from a google search too. Could probably find more If I cared enough.

 

[XMark]

British Columbia, Canada, where apparently we're all a bunch of potheads who get violent when our hockey team loses.

 

[Darby]

'Straya, moite.
http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Australia

 

[Owen Robertson]

White people are evil. That's our stereotype. We're so evil you didn't even know that was our stereotype. We've distracted you with the other ones so we could get away with everything. It's all in a book. Called History.

But in all seriousness I've tried to avoid stereotypes. I ran into two at work today. A Indian gentleman ordered food at my place of work. I offered him hot sauce. He asked how hot it was. I asked him if he like hot food. He said: "You're talking to an Indian. Of course I like hot food."
Another gentleman, who appeared rather muscle-bound, ordered a large meal, and when he came to my counter to order a smoothie, I suggested a protein smoothie. He jokingly said "Just cause I'm a big guy I want a protein smoothie?! That's stereotyping!"... But yeah I do want a protein smoothie." We laughed but I felt bad about myself for stereotyping.

 

[BoredAussieGamer]

I an Aussie, so people seem to think I'm supposed to speak like Paul Hogan and find spiders adorable (admittedly I'm guilty of the latter). We're also a nation of outdoorsey drunks (again, somewhat guilt as one of our former PM's held the world record for fastest sculling of 1.4 litres of beer), who's rite of passage into manhood includes wrestling a croc, or tickling a stingray.

I remember my rite of passage. You never forget the face of a ticklish stingray.

 

[Xdeser2]

Im from Arizona, so I hear alot of "You must hate mexicans and be a crazy tea party republican who wants to kill Obama."

Ya, theres lots of Crazies here (sadly) but most are honest folk (and btw, I DONT hate mexicans, i realize even the illegal ones came for a reason, and its kinda important for a society built on immigration to empathize with them.) and are just living their lives, so its just like anywhre else.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'm an American who is actively moving to the state of Georgia. There is a whole laundry list of stereotypes I could likely fit into honestly. For the American thing...well that's too easy...as for living in Georgia, just watch an episode of Squidbillies since I'm moving to those same North Georgia mountains. Maryland (my home state) doesn't really have any stereotypes I'm aware of and as for the DC metro area...well, I'm about as thin as a wasteland Ghoul but not nearly as feral.

 

[Icehearted]

Idaho: Potatoes and racists

The former isn't very prominent here, the latter however, we have that in spades. I also get a lot about it be scenic, celebrities love coming here for the "country". That never ceases to amuse us.

Good grief I miss socal.

 

[ungothicdove]

Minnesota. I guess it would be the whole "you sound just like the movie Fargo!" thing. And admittedly, even people from my own state say I have a strong accent.

 

[Roboticus]

From Michigan. I don't really know a lot of stereotypes for us. I've heard that we're all dirt poor rust-belters before, but then again that's never actually come up in conversation with out-of-staters before since I've only heard it from my ex-auto worker of a father. There's a few city-bound ones I can think of, like how everyone from Detroit is either a dirt-poor criminal or some snobish rich prude. Or that even thinking of going anywhere near Flint will get your ass shot up by some gangbanger. My favorite descriptor of the (highly liberal) Lansing area from which I hail is the "People's republic of East Lansing." From what I've seen that last one's pretty true as most of the people in the tri-county area I've met have been pretty liberal (myself included). Oh, that and all you upers are lumberjacks with silly accents. I can say from personal experience that at least the second is true. Another state-wide one I've heard from a friend of mine who moved down to Tennessee is that Michigan is the "northern Texas" as we're the only other state with as much blind pride in our state. I personally take offense to that, as I doubt the Texans could ever match us